Local law enforcement in Minnesota can’t legally hold people in jail for the sole purpose of turning them over to federal immigration authorities, according to an opinion from state Attorney General Keith Ellison this week.
As agents for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carry out President Donald Trump’s deportation orders, sweeping across the country in search for people who may be here without legal status, Ellison says Minnesota law and the U.S. Constitution prohibit keeping people in custody on federal immigration detainers if they would otherwise be released.
The formal legal opinion, dated Thursday, comes in response to a Jan. 13 letter from Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, which asked Ellison’s office for guidance on the law when it comes to honoring ICE detainers — requests to hold suspects for up to 48 hours longer than they would otherwise be kept in custody so an agent can pick them up.
ICE’s website says these detainers are critical for public safety and “also conserve scarce government resources and taxpayer dollars.”
Both Choi’s office and the Minnesota Supreme Court have previously found the practice to be illegal. In 2019, officials from Nobles County challenged the latter decision, and a Court of Appeals judge affirmed it.
According to Ellison’s analysis, continued detention of a person who would otherwise be released legally constitutes an “arrest,” and “neither Minnesota law nor federal law gives state and local officials the authority to arrest someone based on an immigration detainer.” Honoring ICE holds could be a violation of the person’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, the opinion says.
“Minnesota law enforcement agencies risk significant civil liability if they enforce immigration detainers,” Ellison writes.
Several local law enforcement agencies chose not to comment or didn’t reply to a request for a response to the opinion.
